Access Injunctions – a discussion of some recent issues – St Ives Chambers

Posted February 26th, 2025 in chambers articles, housing, injunctions, judges, jurisdiction, landlord & tenant, news by sally

‘As housing practitioners, an application we see regularly is for an injunction for access for gas safety checks. Over the last 3 months, 4 issues have been raised with me so I thought it was a good time to write an article on the subject.’

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St Ives Chambers, 21st January 2025

Source: d23mtoo6rceerw.cloudfront.net

The Deregulation Act 2015: A decade on – St John’s Chambers

Posted February 26th, 2025 in appeals, chambers articles, housing, landlord & tenant, news, repossession by sally

‘In this article Brittany Pearce considers some of the difficulties still posed by the Deregulation Act 2015 for defaulting landlords and outlines the issues still outstanding following the Court of Appeal’s decision in Trecarrell House Ltd v Rouncefield [2020] EWCA Civ 760.’

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St John's Chambers, 21st January 2025

Source: www.stjohnschambers.co.uk

Ombudsman sets out common failings of landlords when it comes to inspections following damp and mould complaints – Local Government Lawyer

Posted February 26th, 2025 in complaints, health, housing, landlord & tenant, local government, news, ombudsmen by sally

‘The Housing Ombudsman has analysed four common failings of social landlords in a report on inspections and knowledge management within damp and mould complaints.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 25th February 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Disabled people in immigration bail: the duties of the Home Office and local authorities – Local Government Lawyer

‘The High Court has ruled that the Home Office has been systemically failing to provide safe and suitable accommodation to disabled applicants, and has given guidance on the interaction between Schedule 10 accommodation and the Care Act 2014. Stephanie Harrison KC, Nadia O’Mara and Isaac Ricca-Richardson analyse its findings.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 19th February 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Judge grants city council possession order over square with homeless camp – Local Government Lawyer

Posted February 19th, 2025 in homelessness, housing, local government, news, repossession by sally

‘Manchester City Council can proceed with evictions at a tent encampment in St Peter’s Square, a judge has ruled.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 18th February 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Man fined for housing 18 people in three-bed house – BBC News

‘A landlord has been ordered by a court to pay £37,000 after 18 people were found living in a terraced house in north London.’

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BBC News, 19th February 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Legal centre and barrister cleared of negligence after five-year fight – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The High Court has dismissed negligence allegations which had been hanging over a barrister and legal advice centre for more than five years.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 17th February 2025

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

MoD in legal battle over evacuation of Afghan special forces commandos to UK – The Independent

Posted February 18th, 2025 in Afghanistan, armed forces, government departments, housing, immigration, news by sally

‘The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is embroiled in a legal battle over the evacuation of former Afghan special forces commandos to the UK.’

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The Independent, 18th February 2025

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Bits of interest – Nearly Legal

‘A couple of brief notes on things of interest.’

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Nearly Legal, 16th February 2025

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Supreme Court to hear key case next week on ‘appropriate assessment’ and subsequent approvals – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Supreme Court will next week consider whether Regulation 63 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (“the Habitats Regulations”) require an “appropriate assessment” to be undertaken for subsequent approvals after the grant of outline planning permission at a further consent stage, i.e. at the approval of reserved matters and discharge of conditions stages.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 10th February 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Intentional homelessness and tenancy obtained by deception – Nearly Legal

Posted February 10th, 2025 in fraud, homelessness, housing, landlord & tenant, local government, news, repossession by sally

‘Munemo v City of Wolverhampton Council (2025) EWCC 4. This is quite the section 204 homelessness appeal of Wolverhampton’s review decision confirming the decision that Ms M was intentionally homeless.’

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Nearly Legal, 9th February 2025

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Delay to ‘Awaab’s law’ risks lives of social housing tenants in England, Shelter says – The Guardian

‘The housing charity Shelter has criticised the government for putting lives at risk by delaying a law to make social landlords in England fix dangerous hazards quickly.’

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The Guardian, 6th February 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

Foreign national offender claimant wins legal challenge against Home Office over accommodation, but fails in parallel claim against council – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Home Office has lost a case about the allocation of bail accommodation for a foreign national offender and has been ordered by the High Court to make various changes to this system as well as pay 85% of claimant BLZ’s costs.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 5th February 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Homelessness – local connection and necessity – Nearly Legal

‘Hussaini v Islington London Borough Council (2025) EWCA Civ 22. Mr Hussaini was a refugee. He had been accommodated in Barking & Dagenham area. On grant of leave to remain, he applied as homeless to Islington. Islington decided he did not have a local connection to the borough and referred the application to Barking. Mr H sought a review and s.204 appeal but was unsuccessful on both. He appealed to the Court of Appeal.’

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Nearly Legal, 2nd February 2025

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

The need to plead a positive case in defence if you have a positive case in defence – Doughty Street Chambers

‘In Man v St George’s University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust [2024] EWHC 1304 (KB), the High Court exercised its case management powers to exclude witness evidence which put forward a positive case on an issue which had been neither admitted or denied in the defence on the basis that the matter was outside the Defendant’s knowledge. The Judge found that this was not permissible. This article considers how this issue arises in the housing disrepair context.’

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Doughty Street Chambers, 28th January 2025

Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk

Renewed homeless applications and new facts – Nearly Legal

‘Ivory, R (On the Application Of) v Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (2025) EWCA Civ 21. A second appeal to the Court of Appeal from a judicial review of Welwyn Hatfield’s rejection of a homelessness application by Ms Ivory, on the basis that it was based on the same facts as a previous application by Ms Ivory on which Welwyn had decided no full housing duty was owed as Ms Ivory was intentionally homeless.’

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Nearly Legal, 26th January 2025

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Access injunctions: not as straightforward as they may seem… – Local Government Lawyer

‘Jane Talbot discusses how some of the issues faced by social landlords when it comes to obtaining access injunctions can be overcome.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 24th January 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Successive applications for homelessness assistance and new facts – Local Government Lawyer

‘Toby Vanhegan and Stephanie Lovegrove analyse a Court of Appeal ruling on whether a council was justified in declining to accept an application under section 183 of the Housing Act 1996 on the ground that it was based on the same facts as a previous application.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 24th January 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

DWP program that automatically approves landlord benefit deduction requests ruled unlawful – The Guardian

‘A “computer says yes” program that automatically approves landlord requests to deduct hundreds of pounds from tenants’ universal credit benefits without requiring officials to check first with the claimant has been declared unlawful by the courts.’

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The Guardian, 26th January 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

Home Office ordered to provide adequate asylum accommodation to mother and severely disabled child following successful judicial review – Garden Court Chambers

‘In a judgment handed down on 18 December 2024, the High Court declared that the Secretary of State for the Home Department (‘SSHD’) breached her duty to provide adequate asylum accommodation under sections 95 and 96 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. The High Court granted a mandatory order requiring the Claimants (C1 and C2) to be moved to adequate accommodation that would meet the needs of the C2, a severely disabled child.’

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Garden Court Chambers, 19th December 2025

Source: gardencourtchambers.co.uk